Saturday, October 22, 2011

60th Anniversary of St. Margaret Mary (Cumberland)

Last Saturday, I celebrated a Mass to mark the Diamond Jubilee (60th anniversary) of the church of St. Margaret Mary in Cumberland; I returned on Sunday to visit with the other parishioners.

Actually, Catholics have been present a long time in Cumberland; Mgr Guigues, the first bishop of the diocese, had gone there 149 years earlier to the day (October 15, 1862) to consecrate the church dedicated then in honour of St. Anthony of Padua.

The parish, currently under the direction of Father Gerard Monaghan, assisted by Deacons Donahue and Foley, and with many volunteers for the parish committees, is lively indeed.

Parishioners are also recalling the reconstruction needed twenty years earlier (1991) and the tenth anniversary of the establishment of a small lower-level chapel which witnesses eucharistic adoration 24/7, all year long.

The festivties included a catered jubilee dinner, with dancing afterwards at the community hall.